My Story

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Just call me Dee. I live in Pasadena, CA. I've been making jewelry since high school. Back in the day working with metals involved a soldering iron, wax castings for rings and an oven hot enough to melt metal pellets into liquid form. Boy, have times changed.

Around the year 2000 I was introduced to polymer clay. I fell in love with polymer clay the first time it ran through my fingers. Back then, polymer clay manufactures and avaliable colors were few.

Today, that's no longer true. Polymer clay and polymer clay products are overabundant. And, we all know, if you don't have that perfect color you crave, you just mix the primary colors until you do. In a pinch, this is a real time saver.

I started Teach Me Clay as a way to get all my notes, thoughts and tutorials all in the same place. What started out as a personal website has now turned into a place of inspiration.

For many years, I had been giving away my jewelry as gifts to family, friends and co-workers. Then, a couple years ago people began asking if I could design a special piece of jewelry for them. These special requests resulted in my getting paid for my pieces. Shortly, word of mouth began to spread and my business was born.

Now I've decided to show my designs locally. In order to get started, last year I visited as many craft fairs, bead shows, trunk shows, flea markets and swap meets that my schedule would allow. This year, my plan is to become a vendor in the same shows I visited. I feel really good about becoming a vendor. My jewelry orders have doubled since I started selling about two years ago.

My next goal is to create jewelry making kits. When I started out making jewelry I would find the perfect tutorial then get frustrated because I could never find all the pieces needed in one place. The kits I plan on designing will come with a tutorial and all the material needed to finish one design.

My last goal is to find a brick and mortar shop with a physical address. I imagine a shop full of crafting supplies, daily & evening classes, and trunk shows offered to aspiring jewelry makers in the area.